If you've ever played Lineage 2, you know the game has a unique way of pulling players back in, no matter how long they've been away. Every six months, new content is released into the game, with new items and challenges to keep things exciting. But with each update, the gearing process also evolves, making it a constantly shifting journey. In this post, we'll dive into how the gearing process in Lineage 2 has changed over time, what items you need to focus at and how to make upgrades based on what you character needs.
In this guide, the main focus will be to help you understand which items you need to stay competitive as new updates roll in. We'll break down the key gear that’s essential for your character's progression. However, we won’t be diving into the prices of these items, as the in-game market is constantly fluctuating, making it difficult to provide accurate or up-to-date cost information. Instead, we'll concentrate on ensuring you know what to aim for, so you're always ready for the next challenge Lineage 2 throws your way.
As discussed in a previous post, Lineage 2 now features around 90 empty slots with a wide variety of items available for each one. Although prices will not be the main concern of the first items you obtain, moving forward each upgrade should be calculated on Adena spent for each % of damage gained, we will dive deeper into this later in this guide.
In all my years in Lineage 2, I have been trying to make my toons as self sufficient as I possibly can with that in mind, and after building two dozen toons from scratch, I came up with what I believe is the best way to gear a toon.
Now this is a rather unpopular opinion and I have a few of them, unlike other games, the "Content" in Lineage 2 is the gear, as you all know, the game does not have quests/side quests, the main questline requires you to kill a certain amount of mobs from area to area.
So lets dive into the specifics of the main items you need.
From 1 to 7 are the items I would recommend getting first. One thing they all have in common is that you can augment each and every one of them.
Additionally you can farm the stones which drop from instances, getting quite a bit of boost for a rather low price.
I know I have not covered the armor yet or the weapon but we will go over those items in a bit.
1. Mask, this is a free item that you get once you graduate as a mentee or you can purchase it from the mentee manager, you can enchant it but I would not waste the resources to do it. The only thing I would do is augment it since you can have 2x different 5% augments for damage, or up to 70 element attack, either of them is good to keep, generally speaking, anything above 6-7% is good to have.
2. Circlet, there are 3 types of circlets, defensive, fighter offensive and mage offensive. That item can be changed into a different type, fighter -> mage -> tank during Red Libra events. One of the items that you need to get it at +5, enchanting in general takes a lot of LUC specific items which are not really the main focus of a player in the beginning, from +4 to +5, there is a 15% chance to succeed so this is something no player wants to go through early in the game, the best augment for it is PVE damage 1%, 2% and top augment is 5%.
3. Dragon Rind Shirt, an item that not only gives you defensive stats, element defense and reuse but also additional stats for both PvE and PvP. It can have 4 types of augments, M skill critical damage, P skill critical damage, P critical damage and HP/CP all up to 15% with the top ones having an extra 3% damage on top of the 15% critical damage. You can keep it at +0 and possibly enchant it later or keep it like that for a long time, the extra enchants give additional stats and reduce the reuse of the additional skills. That is something not that important when you are building a character and although it is an item that you build your character on, it only improves drastically at +8.
4. Brooch is mainly a PvP item due to the crit damage reduction bonuses, there is the Greater Brooch which can be upgraded to Top Brooch, there is a difference in stats but not as significant as the fact that you can augment it, 5% is the maximum ( P Atk, P Skill Power, M Skill Power, PvP damage) with the exception of M. Atk which is 7%. This item gives a 15 seconds proc, for 10% P Atk and M Atk while the Top Brooch has 15%, the damage increase in a proc does not justify the 2.5x difference in price, Greater Brooch should be the #1 choice.
5. Top Kaliels Bracelet, this is an item you do get at +5 as it is fairly cheap and gives 7% P Atk/M Atk/ P Def/M Def, main augments are up to 10% for P/M Attack, P/M Skill Power and All Weapon restistance and +100 for Element Attack/Defense. All top offensive augments have 3% skill power, the weapon resistance has -3% damage received and the element one has 3% reuse.
6. Advanced Seed Bracelet is an item that can be upgraded many times, this photo shows a lv3 Seed Talisman, cannot be enchanted but can be augmented, allows for a total of 4 Agathions to be equipped and can be upgraded to lv4 and also can be enchanted depending on your class, a +5 Lv4 Advanced Seed Bracelet, could be a good investment but pricy for first item. All Advanced Seed Talismans, from lv1 to lv4 can be augmented allowing 2 set of stats, the first one is element attack or defense up to 100 and the 2nd one can be either 1, 2 or 5% of one stat, P Atk, P Def, M Atk, M Def, P Skill Critical Rate or Damage, M Skill Critical Rate or Damage etc. The main focus of this item should be element, as it is easier to get closer to 100 element than it is to get 5% of any stat, now you should keep any 90 or 100 element attack you get regardless of the augment on the 2nd line, even if you are a fighter and get M atk, or Casting Speed.
7. Top Grade Artifact Book, an item that can also have 2 different augments of 5% each, for a total of up to 10% damage or 10% defense and gives 100 element attack and 100 element defense at +5, another item that should be purchased at +5 since the same difficulty applies while enchanting, additionally the item gives a critical damage proc which is nice to have.
Those 6 items 2-7 are the first ones you add to your character and the last ones you upgrade, from augments alone you can get on average and total of 40 to 45% damage and an extra 90 - 100 element, if course the right augment might come in quick or take some time but each item offers something to your character.
Top Kaliels Bracelet, Radiant Circlet and Top Artifact Book are the items that should be purchased at +5 while the rest can be upgraded later, either on your own, with a bit of luck or replacing it with another item.